The Design Dialogues site houses all online publications from the School of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design.

This site is funded by the Stephan Weiss Lecture Series on Business Strategy, Negotiation and Innovation. This lectureship was launched in 2002 to commemorate the life of the late artist and sculptor Stephan Weiss, husband and business partner of the fashion designer Donna Karan. Weiss co-founded Donna Karan International in 1984, and was instrumental in every significant venture the company undertook: launching and structuring new brands, most notably the Donna Karan Beauty company; signing new licenses; establishing in-house legal and creative departments; devising its computer design technology; orchestrating the company’s initial public offering in 1996; and negotiating its sale to the current owner LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton.

about the school of design strategies

The School of Design Strategies is an experimental educational environment. We advance innovative approaches in design, business and education. In the evolving context of cities, services and ecosystems, we explore design as a capability and a strategy in the environmentally conscious practices of individuals, groups, communities and organizations. For more about the School of Design Strategies, visit the SDS Magazine.

We seek to develop a praxis that enables people to (re)connect with their natural physical capabilities, and to (re)use everything that is present and given, materials as well as skills and talents.

In the Golden Joinery workshops, for example, we invite participants to repair their beloved but damaged clothing items with golden thread. The garments emerge with unique, beautiful golden “scars” at the points of repair. “Golden Joinery” translates the term for the 15th-century Japanese repair technique kintsugi, by which broken pottery was fixed with molten gold. Not only could the repaired pottery continue to be used, but its aesthetic value was often actually enhanced by the repair work. Our practice takes its initial inspiration from the kind of imperfect beauty exemplified by the kintsugi technique, reinterpreting it in the context of contemporary fashion.

At the workshops, in addition to showing examples of previous Golden Joineries, we offer instruction in old and new methods of repair. Some participants want to learn specific techniques; others wish to liberate their imaginations, often developing elaborate, jewel-like repairs in the process (SEE FIGURES 1-7, 11).

Adding a second, “new” layer to a garment puts into question the monopoly of fashion labels over the parameters of personal style, calling out the expressive capacity of end users and giving them an empowering sense of their own creativity.

We have developed not only an increasing number of Golden Joinery garments that can inspire workshop participants, but also a scenario for conducting the workshops themselves. We use a series of “invitations,” as we call the various prompts and suggestions we deploy to move ourselves and our fellow creators. The ensuing interactions, spontaneous and playful, imbue the workshops with their own rhythm and lightness. Spending a few hours in a Golden Joinery workshop affords an opportunity to slow down and give attention to something the participant treasures—an opportunity otherwise rarely found in modern life. All participants highly value the atmosphere of relaxed focus that characterizes the Golden Joinery gatherings (SEE FIGURES 8-10).

In part, Golden Joinery evokes the question, What’s new? Adding a second, “new” layer to a garment puts into question the monopoly of fashion labels over the parameters of personal style, calling out the expressive capacity of end users and giving them an empowering sense of their own creativity. The question of newness is of course fundamental to fashion as such, but it need not be driven exclusively by commercial considerations. Indeed, Golden Joinery demonstrates the potential for an informal, non-commercial collective to start and develop a “brand” collaboratively. The future of the brand is literally in everyone’s hands.